Federal CIO says review process is working

Federal agencies have saved about $300 million through reviews meant to identify duplication in technology spending, the federal chief information officer testified last week.

In a statement submitted to Congress, Steven VanRoekelsaid the Office of Management and Budget has been running PortfolioStat for just over a year. The initiative requires agency officials to look across their IT projects to find areas in which they could consolidate or eliminate redundant efforts.

Thus far, the program has identified almost 100 places to cut spending, worth about $2.5 billion in potential savings from fiscal 2013 through 2015, according to VanRoekel.

He said the annual process will soon begin again, but will include more than just cutting duplication. It will also look at cloud computing and how agencies can shift to this model to save money.

Brothers start Primoh!

After Thomas and Tony Asefi sold their contracting business Global Analytic IT Services (better known as GAITS) last year, the brothers started dreaming up new projects.

As company executives, their toughest and most expensive problem was recruiting the right people. So they decided to develop a site meant to make it a little easier. Last month, they started Primoh! (at www.primoh.com), a Web site that brings together jobs from well-known Web sites such as Monster and CareerBuilder as well as jobs posted on academic boards and other sites.

The idea is to make finding employees faster and cheaper as the site is free — both to search and to post open jobs.

The Asefis, who have also started Fairfax-based health IT business ACI, said they’ve brought on recruiters that companies using the site can hire to help find the right employees.

GAO backs Exelis protest

The Government Accountability Office last month upheld part of a protest filed by a Colorado unit of McLean-based Exelis Systems against a State Department contract awarded to Arlington-based PAE Government Services, the incumbent.

Exelis had previously protested the contract, which covers operations and maintenance services for facilities in Iraq, including the Baghdad Embassy, and the GAO upheld the first protest.

The State Department reevaluated the proposals and again selected PAE. In the latest protest, the GAO said it agreed the agency misevaluated PAE’s proposed staffing plan. The report recommended the State Department reconsider the PAE proposal or reopen the competition and make a new decision.

“In either event, should the agency conclude that PAE is not the firm in line for award of the contract, we recommend that the agency terminate PAE’s contract for the convenience of the government, and make award to the firm selected,” the report added. The GAO also recommended the State Department reimburse Exelis’s protest costs in connection with that issue.

GAO denies Advanced Computer Concepts

The GAO denied a protest filed by McLean-based Advanced Computer Concepts against a General Services Administration contract awarded to Woodbridge-based Futron for Cisco equipment.

Advanced Computer Systems had offered a lower price of about $795,000 — compared to Futron’s $813,000. But the GSA had concluded that Futron’s bid was the best value.